Contains spoilers for “Only Murders in the Building” Season 4, Episode 2 – “Gates of Heaven”

After all of the life-threatening horrors that Charles Haden-Savage (Steve Martin) has been through over the past three seasons of “Only Murders in the Building,” it’s no wonder that he thinks he’s losing his mind. Having coated himself in the ashes of his friend and stunt double Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch), he rinses them off and carries the liquified remains about in a jar while investigating her murder. He soon starts to hallucinate that he can see her. When he hears a noise in his closet, who should emerge but Jan Bellows (Amy Ryan), his ex-girlfriend and a flame of Sazz’s before she died, freshly escaped from prison? Jan explains she’s escaped because she’s also worried about Sazz. Charles then has to tell Jan how her lover died, and even provide cover for her while she plans her next move on the outside. She exits through Charles’ closet when Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) suddenly show up. Charles is initially on the fence about Jan being real, but when Donna Williams (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) arrives with a SWAT team, he learns that Jan’s escape and murder of a prison guard are all too real.

In case you can’t remember how Jan went from being the possible love of Charles’ life to a life in the pen, let’s rewind back to Season 1. Jan, a promising concert bassoonist, didn’t register on Charles’ radar as a possible suspect in the murder of Tim Kono (Julian Cihi). Charles and Jan were already dating seriously when the evidence finally comes together and Mabel and Oliver figure out Tim and Jan had dated. They realize that Jan was so furious at Tim for breaking up with her that she poisoned him — then staged the scene to make it look like a suicide. She nearly kills Charles to get him out of the way, but he survives her murder attempt, and Jan goes up the river for Tim’s death.

While Jan’s been cooling her heels in the pen since Season 1, her life’s been very lively even while she’s been incarcerated.

During Seasons 2 and 3, Jan is invited back into Charles’ life, which throws a wrench into his recovering romantic world. Charles calls on Jan to help him solve the murder of Bunny Folger (Jayne Houdyshell), for which he, Mabel, and Oliver are being framed. She provides him with a murderer’s perspective on the topic, then recognizes the potential murderer as an artist. They have a moment of bittersweet reflection over their old romance. 

Deeper into the season, we discover that Sazz and Jan end up getting together after Sazz arrives at the jail to break up with Jan for Charles. While he struggles with his relationship with Joy (Andrea Martin), Sazz and Jan live it up together in a wildly satisfying romantic relationship. The connection continues during Season 3, with Sazz praising Jan and making reference to their connection. Unfortunately for Jan, those days of wine and roses are over. But she hints she’s willing to hook up with Charles again. Some guys have all the luck.

Check out our piece on if Sunset Swan is a real place to read more about “Only Murders in the Building.”